


Nothing To Worry About

by LugianBeforeSwine



Category: Slow Starter (Manga)
Genre: Fluff, Future Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-06
Updated: 2014-07-06
Packaged: 2018-02-07 16:39:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1906185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LugianBeforeSwine/pseuds/LugianBeforeSwine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kiyo and Ino decide to adopt a cat. The decision-making process is perhaps more convoluted than it should be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing To Worry About

**Author's Note:**

> I've been meaning to write for this fandom for a long time. These two are just the cutest ever aahhh.

Kiyo had been pacing up and down the living area of his apartment for the last ten minutes. He knew he was worrying too much (he always worried too much, about everything, and the knowledge that he worried too much was just one more thing to worry about) but nevertheless, he couldn’t calm down. The reason for his anxious pacing was staring at him from the end table. It was an advertisement for an animal shelter that had just opened a few blocks from his apartment. The advertisement displayed a picture collage of the shelter’s featured animals. The majority of them were cats. Kiyo had felt his heart clench at the sight of the cats’ sad, pleading eyes. They seemed to stare directly at him, begging him to take them home. Kiyo had always liked cats, though he had never had one of his own. Maybe this was some kind of sign indicating that now was the ideal time for him to adopt his first cat. Except, of course, he would have to get Ino’s permission first.

This was the true cause of the pacing. Kiyo and Ino had been living together for nearly two years, and had been dating for six. Yet Kiyo was still nervous about bringing up the topic of adopting a cat. Although he had no doubt that Ino would treat the animal with the utmost care and kindness, he worried that bringing a living being into their home would be too burdensome. Ino already worked long—and often late—hours; would he find an animal to be too much of a hassle? Of course Kiyo was prepared to take care of the cat by himself as much as he could, but he couldn’t do it all alone. He also had work and other obligations.

Maybe they weren’t ready for a cat. Maybe Ino would think he was being presumptuous in assuming that their relationship was stable enough to involve an animal that would depend on them for everything. Maybe this whole idea had been terrible to begin with. Kiyo had just been caught up in the possibilities without thinking through the facts. Resolving to forget about the whole thing, he was about to cross over to the table in order to recycle the advertisement when the front door opened, and Ino entered.

“I’m home!” Ino greeted cheerfully, toeing off his shoes.

Kiyo’s response was a short “Ack!” followed by a mad dive to the table in an endeavor to hide the flyer before Ino saw it. Kiyo managed the snatch up the advertisement and hide it behind his back before Ino looked up at him.

“What are you doing?” he asked, tilting his head slightly.

“Ahh,” Kiyo said, sidestepping slowly toward the kitchen. “Nothing. I was just going to recycle something. Welcome home,” he added quickly.

“Kiyo…are you hiding something?” Ino looked almost hurt, and Kiyo nearly broke then and there.

“No! Of course not! What could I be hiding?”

Ino was advancing on him faster than he could retreat, and soon Kiyo’s back was against the wall. Ino reached behind him, fingers brushing over the paper.

Kiyo sighed and let Ino remove it from his hand, covering his face as Ino inspected the flyer.

Ino’s features immediately softened as soon as he saw the pictures. When he looked up at Kiyo, he was smiling gently. Seeing this, Kiyo slowly removed his hands from in front of his face.

“When did you get this?” Ino asked softly.

“I picked it up on my way home from work today,” Kiyo answered, gaze constantly shifting between his own feet and Ino’s beautiful smile. “I don’t know what made me take it…”

Ino kept right on smiling, although a slight flush had appeared on his cheekbones. “Were you thinking…umm…”

“I know what a drastic change it would be and a huge commitment but for some reason I just—”

“So you were seriously thinking about it? Why did you hide it—”

“I didn’t want us to rush into anything, you know, this is—”

“Kiyo, it’s not—”

“Well—”

Suddenly, they both stopped talking, staring at each other intently and sporting identical blushes. A moment of complete silence passed between them, and then they were both laughing.

When the laughter died down, Ino reached out and took Kiyo’s hand. “So…umm…a cat, right?”

Kiyo squeezed his hand and nodded. “Yes. A cat. I mean, if that’s all right with you. If you think that would be okay.”

“I definitely think that would be okay.”

There was a pause while they smiled at each other, then Kiyo leaned in and kissed Ino softly. “Right. Well,” he began after they broke apart. “Should we go there tomorrow and look?”

“I think that’s an excellent idea,” Ino answered. “But maybe we should do some research first? Have you ever had a cat before?”

“I haven’t.”

“Neither have I.” Ino smiled. “Looks like we have a long night of reading ahead of us.”

“Mm,” Kiyo replied. “Ino…thanks for this. Sorry for trying to hide it from you. I was just worried, you know, that you’d think I was being pushy or something…”

“It’s okay. But we both worry a little too much, don’t we?” Ino asked, laughing.

“Maybe we do,” Kiyo agreed, grinning. He tugged gently at Ino’s hand and started off towards their bedroom so he could retrieve his laptop. “C’mon, I’m sure there’re plenty more cat-related things we can worry about now.”

No matter what happened, Kiyo thought, he could be sure that Ino would stay by his side.

**Author's Note:**

> Omake:
> 
> "So what are we going to name her?"
> 
> "Umm...I'm quite bad with names. Why don't you decide?"
> 
> "Oh, well, I'm not very good with names either. I was really hoping you would pick a name..."
> 
> "Ahh...well...how about..."
> 
> "Hmm..."
> 
> "Well..."
> 
> "...We could call her Tama."
> 
> "Yes, Tama is a great name."


End file.
